This invention relates to a new and improved process and apparatus for saponification reactions to produce liquid soaps on a batch scale over a sufficiently short time interval to effect a semicontinuous process. Typically, the reaction times are in the order of about 2-5 minutes, and reactor vessel capacities of about 1-25 gallons, or greater.
The chemical industry manufactures a wide variety of liquid soaps at plant sites in large quantities for shipping in container cars, drums, etc. The containers are then returned to the site and refilled. In the case of drums, they are usually washed prior to return, which creates a waste disposal problem. In addition, when shipping from a chemical manufacturing plant, the weight of water diluent in the liquid soap represents a transportation expense. Today, the manufacture of liquid soaps used in industry no longer poses a manufacturing problem from the chemical standpoint. The greater problem is posed in transportation of chemically toxic wastes, and in use of reactors which are economically effective in both large and small scale manufacture of the product.
Obviously, it would be far less expensive to ship raw materials to the site of use and manufacture the liquid soap at that particular site. This would enable the raw materials to be shipped in bulk, without water, and then be pumped out of, say, tanker cars, or large containers directly into a saponification reactor vessel.
Heretofore, the capital costs of large reactor vessels for saponification reactions in batch form were not economic in small sizes. However, if a batch chemical operation could be carried out in a reasonably continuous manner, or in a semi-continuous manner, the equipment capital costs could be reduced sufficiently to enable a user to manufacture liquid soaps on site. It would be also useful if the same reactor used for a chemical reaction could be used in the manufacture of similar ingredients formed simply by mixing, such as cleaning compounds, beverages, foods, etc. Thus, saponification reactions, esterification reactions, the manufacture of detergents, lubricant soaps, etc., are included in the term saponification reactions, and the like.